German repressions against Poles who helped Jews – repressive measures taken by the German occupation authorities against non-Jewish Polish citizens who helped Jews who were persecuted and exterminated by the Third Reich from 1939 to 1945.

The orders of the occupation authorities, and in particular the ordinance of the general governor Hans Frank of October 15 1941, provided for the death penalty for every Pole who would provide shelter for a Jew or help him in any other way. In practice, the range of penalties applied to those helping Jews was wide, including fines, confiscation of property, beatings, imprisonment, exile to concentration camps and death penalty. Due to the principle of collective responsibility applied by the German occupier, families of those who helped Jews and sometimes entire local communities were subjects to repression.

The exact number of Poles executed by the Germans for helping Jews has not yet been precisely determined. The most cautious estimates circle around few hundred murdered.

German anti-Jewish policy in occupied Poland In the first years of the Second World War, German policy in relation to the "Jewish question" in occupied Poland was not coherent and consistent.[1] Nevertheless, its fundamental aim was to isolate Jews, loot their property, exploit them through forced labour[1][2] and, in the final stage, remove them completely from the land under the authority of the Third Reich[2]. An initial plan for dealing with the Jewish population in Poland was adopted already on September 21 1939, i. e. before the end of the September campaign[3]. On that day, a meeting was held in Berlin led by SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, attended by the chief heads of the main departments of the General Security Police Office and commander of Einsatzgruppen operating in Poland[4]. It was then established that all Jews living in the lands, which were to be incorporated into the Reich, would be resettled in central Poland. Mass deportations were to be preceded by removal of the Jewish population from rural areas and its concentration in larger urban centers[4]. In the remaining occupied areas, it was also intended to forcibly resettle Jews to larger towns, especially to those located near railway lines[4]. Moreover, during the meeting, a number of recommendations were adopted, including the creation of "Jewish Elder Councils", the establishment of a census of the Jewish population, as well as its marking and taking up forced labor[3].

The need to isolate Jews from the rest of the inhabitants of occupied Poland was emphasized by the Memorial on the treatment of people in former Polish territories from a racial and political point of view, drawn up in November 1939 by the NSDAP Office of Racial Policy. Among other things, its authors wrote that "the task of the German administration will be to differentiate and win Poles and Jews against each other"[3]. Recommendations concerning the fuelling of antagonisms between Poles and Jews and other national minorities are also included in the Memorial on the legal position of German policy towards Poles from a national and political point of view, prepared in January 1940 for the Academy of German Law[5][3].

From the first days of the occupation, the Germans treated the Jewish population in the spirit of the racist Nuremberg laws[3]. From September 1939, the occupying authorities at various levels issued orders ordering Jews to wear special bands or identification marks, as well as to mark their apartments and businesses[3]. On the territory of the General Government, this policy was sanctioned by the ordinance of Governor General Hans Frank of 23 November 1939, which required all Jews over ten years of age to wear Star of David armbands[3]. The marking of Jews was also introduced on the territories incorporated into the Reich, but this was usually done on the basis of secret instructions, since the relevant law was introduced in Germany only in the autumn of 1941[3]. Moreover, in the first months of the occupation almost all towns of the General Government and the Warta Country introduced far-reaching restrictions on the freedom of movement of Jews. To this end, measures such as curfew, a ban on leaving the place of residence and a ban on using different means of transport were used[3]. According to a decree by Hans Frank of 26 January 1940, Jews were prohibited from travelling by train[3][1]. Over time, this ban has been extended to other means of transport[1]. Strict criminal sanctions, up to and including capital punishment, were imposed on those who would violate these provisions[3].

Germans also took actions aimed at the pauperization of Jews and their exclusion from the economic life of the occupied country[3]. Industrial, trade and service enterprises owned by Jews were confiscated in large numbers. Extensive restrictions have also been introduced in the areas of handicraft production, small-scale trade, property management and money transfer[3][1]. The legally sanctioned "aryanization" of Jewish property was accompanied by individual ("wild") looting[3]. Contributions and special taxes were also imposed on Jews[3]. Representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia were deprived of the right to pursue liberal professions and were dismissed from work in public institutions[6][3]. The decree issued by Hans Frank on October 26, 1939 included forced labor for the Jewish population in the General Government[3]. Two years later, forced labor for Jews was introduced in the territories incorporated into the Reich, however, only by sanctioning the state of matters that had existed there since the first months of the occupation[3].

The next stage of the anti-Semitic policy of the occupier was ghettoisation of the Jewish population, officially justified by economic, sanitary or political reasons[3]. As an excuse to isolate Jews in closed districts, among other things, Germans used the "Easter pogrom" of March 1940, arranged from German inspiration by Polish extreme nationalists[7]. The first Jewish ghetto was established in October 1939 in Piotrków Trybunalski[3]. Over the next few months several more ghettos were created in the General Government and Warta Country, including the ghetto in Łódź (February 1940)[3]. Beginning in September 1940, the ghettoisation process became more organized[3]. In October of this same year, it was decided to establish a "Jewish quarter in Warsaw"[3]. In March 1941 the ghettos in Kraków and Lublin were established[3]. The process of ghettoisation in the Radom district of the General Government was rather at the latest in December 1941[1]. After the outbreak of the German-Soviet War, the organizing of ghettos on Polish lands previously annexed by the USSR[3] took place. The creation of closed Jewish communities was accompanied by a progressive reduction in the number of smaller ghettos[3]. The concentration and isolation of the Jewish population was also to be served by an unrealized project of creating a great "reservation" for Jews in the Lublin region[3].

The persecution of the Jewish population was accompanied by a large-scale anti-Semitic propaganda campaign aimed at the "Aryan" population - first of all at Poles[8][6]. Using the "gadzinowa" press, cinema or poster, the occupying forces tried to deepen anti-Semitic attitudes and stereotypes, which were already widespread in some parts of Polish society before the war[6][9]. The German propaganda attempted, among other things, to blame Jews for the outbreak of the war and the occupational shortages, as well as to dehumanize them in the eyes of Polish society, e. g. through accusations of spreading infectious diseases (e. g. poster "Jews - lice - typhoid typhus")[2][8][9][3]. After the beginning of the war with the USSR and the discovery of the Katyn graves, the slogan of "Judeo-Communism" was also intensively used[9]. In many cases, anti-Semitic propaganda has found its way into fertile soil and influenced Poles' attitudes towards Jews[9][6], even after the "final solution" was initiated[8].

After the invasion of the USSR started (June 22, 1941), the anti-Jewish policy of the invader was violently radicalised. East of the Ribbentrop-Molotov line, German Einsatzgruppen started its operations, which by the end of 1941 killed from 500 thousand[6] to one million[10] Polish and Soviet Jews. In December 1941, extermination of Jews from the Warta Country began in the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem [3]. By the summer of 1942, all the ghettos in that region had ceased to exist, except for Łódź ghetto [3]. On the other hand, during the night of 16th to 17th March 1942, deportations of the inhabitants of the ghetto in Lublin began to the death camp in Bełżec[2]. The closing of the Lublin Ghetto initiated the mass and systematic extermination of Polish Jews living in the areas of the General Government and Białystok district, which the Germans later baptized with the cryptonym "Aktion Reinhardt"[2]. Moreover, starting from mid-1942 the extermination camps created by the Germans on occupied Polish lands became a place of execution of Jews deported from other European countries[2][3]. By November 1943, "Action Reinhardt" had claimed nearly 2 million victims[2]. Although in the second half of the year the extermination camps organized for this operation were closed down, the mass extermination of Polish and European Jews was continued, mainly in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp[10][6]. In August 1944, the liquidation of the last ghetto in the occupied Polish lands – the Łódź Ghetto took place[3]. As a consequence of the German policy of extermination on occupied Polish lands, the majority of about 5.5 million Holocaust victims, including at least 2.8 million Polish Jews, were murdered[11].

In 1941, the rapid spread of infectious diseases in overpopulated ghettos and the general radicalisation of German anti-Jewish policy resulted in tightening of the isolation restrictions imposed on Polish Jews[1][2]. While the Second Restriction of Residence in the General Government on April 29, 1941 provided for prison sentences and fines for non-compliance with the "residence restrictions" regulations, since the middle of that year Jews captured outside the ghetto were usually executed on the spot - usually based on an alleged "attempt to escape"[1]. The third regulation on the restriction of residency in the General Government of October 15, 1941 provided for the death penalty for all Jews who "leave their designated district without authorisation", but its sentencing would be the responsibility of the German Special Courts[1][12]. Finally, in November 1941, the German police authorities issued the so-called Schießbefehl order, which authorised police officers to shoot all Jews who were outside the ghetto (including women and children)[1]. After the start of "Aktion Reinhardt" the German gendarmerie supported by collaborative police forces systematically tracked, captured and murdered refugees from ghettos, transports and camps. This stage of the Holocaust, called Judenjagd by the Germans (the "hunt for Jews"), lasted until the last days of the occupation[13].

Historians estimate that in occupied Poland from 100 thousand[2] to 300 thousand[13] Jews attempted to hide "on the Aryan side". The Germans undertook a number of actions aimed at discouraging Poles from providing any kind of assistance to the Jews. In order to achieve this goal, the occupation authorities skillfully managed to administer rewards and penalties[2][9]. On one hand, the "Aryan" population was encouraged to denounce and track Jews in return for money or other goods. In Warsaw denunciators were rewarded with 500 zlotys and officers of the "blue police" were promised to receive 1/3 of his cash for capturing a Jew hiding "on the Aryan side". In the rural areas of the Warsaw district, a prize in the form of 1 metre of grain was awarded. The award for the denunciation could also include several kilograms of sugar, a litre of spirit, a small quantity of wood or food or clothes belonging to the victim. It is known that in the vicinity of Ostrołęka rewards for denunciators amounted to 3 kilograms of sugar, in Western Małopolska - 500 PLN and 1 kilogram of sugar, in Kraśnik County - from 2 to 5 kg of sugar, in Konin County - property of the victims and 0.5 kg of sugar, in the vicinity of Sandomierz - litre of spirit and 0.5 kg of sugar, in Volhynia - three litres of vodka[1]. These techniques did not go without results. In the Polish society there were individuals who, motivated by profit or anti-Semitism, were actively pursuing and then handing over, robbing or blackmailing Jews who were hiding[1][6][14]. In Warsaw, the number of "szmalcownik people", blackmailers and denunciators, often associated in well-organized gangs, was calculated at 3-4 thousand[15]. In rural areas there were gangs - usually made up of criminals, members of the social margin and declared anti-Semites[74] - who tracked the fugitives and then gave them away to Germans or robbed them on their own, often committing murders and rape[1][14][2].

The Germans used Polish "blue police" officers to participate in roundups and search operations. Some police officers were very zealous in this field, among others by participating directly in the murder of Jewish escapees[1]. Polish foresters, members of voluntary fire brigades and members of rural guards were also involved in the activities. Moreover, Polish village heads, mayors and civil servants were obliged to enforce German regulations concerning the capture of Jews and preventing them from receiving aid[2].

At the same time, the occupation authorities imposed draconian penalties for hiding Jews or providing them with any assistance[2][6]. According to Sebastian Piątkowski and Jacek A. Młynarczyk, "a milestone on the road to complete isolation of the Jewish community from the rest of the conquered population" was signing by Hans Frank of the aforementioned Third Ordinance on Restrictions on residence in the General Government (October 15, 1941). This was the first legal act providing for the death penalty for Poles who "knowingly give shelter" to Jews residing outside the ghetto without permission[1]. This document also announced that "instigators and helpers are subject to the same punishment as the offender, the attempted act will be punished as a committed act", but stated that in lighter cases a prison sentence may be imposed. The aim of the regulation was clear - discourage Jews from seeking rescue outside the ghetto and discourage Polish people from helping them[16].

Soon afterwards, orders with similar content were issued in all districts of the General Government, signed by local governors or SS and police officers. In many cases, similar orders and announcements were also published by the lower administrative authorities. The announcement issued on November 10, 1941 by the governor of the Warsaw district, Dr Ludwig Fischer, was even more restrictive than Frank's regulation, as it provided for the death penalty to every Pole who "consciously grants shelter or otherwise helps the hiding Jews by providing accommodation (e. g. overnight accommodation, subsistence, by taking them to vehicles of all kinds".[12][15]

After the launch of "Aktion Reinhardt" Jews escaped from the liquidated ghettos or from transports to death camps. This led the German authorities to issue another series of orders reminding the Polish population of the death penalty for trying to help Jewish refugees[17]. In this context, one can mention, among others, the announcement of SS Commander and Police Commander of the Warsaw district SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg of 5 September, 1942 and the announcement of the district chief administrative officer of Przemyśl County Dr Heinischa of July 27, 1942, police decree of the Starosta of Sanok County, Dr Class of 14 September, 1942, announcement of the City Starosta in Częstochowa E. Franke of September 24, 1942[12], order of the Starosta of the Kraśnik County of October 23, 1942[14], and the announcement of the Starosta of the Dębica County Schlüter of November 19, 1942. On September 21, 1942, SS-Standartenführer Herbert Böttcher, Commander and Police Head of the Radom County, issued a circular to the local administrative and police authorities, which contained the following provisions:[1][12]

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German repression against Poles helping Jews - repression used by the German occupation authorities against Polish citizens of non-Jewish origin, who helped Jews persecuted and exterminated by the Third Reich in 1939-1945.

The orders of the occupation authorities, and in particular the regulation of general governor Hans Frank of October 15, 1941, provided for the death penalty for every Pole who would shelter a Jew or help him in a different way. In practice, the range of penalties applied to people helping Jews was broad, including fines, confiscation of property, beatings, imprisonment, deportation to the concentration camp and death penalty. In connection with the principle of collective responsibility used by the occupiers, the victims of repression were families of guardians, and sometimes also whole local communities.

The number of Poles lost by the Germans for helping Jews has not been precisely determined so far. The most cautious estimates speak of several hundred murdered.

In the first years of the Second World War, German policy regarding the "Jewish question" in occupied Poland was not consistent and consistent [1] . Nevertheless, its main goal was to strive to isolate Jews, plunder their property, exploit them through forced labor [1] [2] , and ultimately their complete removal from the lands under the rule of the Third Reich [2] . The preliminary plan of dealing with the Jewish population in Poland was adopted on September 21, 1939, so before the end of the September campaign [3] . On that day in Berlin , a meeting was held under the leadership of SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich , in which the heads of the major departments of the General Security Police Office and the Einsatzgruppen commander operating in Poland took part [4] . It was established then that all Jews living in the lands that were planned to be incorporated into the Reich would be resettled to central Poland. Mass deportations were to precede the removal of the Jewish population from rural areas and its concentration in larger urban centers [5] . In other occupied territories, it was also intended to forcibly relocate Jews to larger towns, especially to those near the railway lines [6] . During the meeting, a number of recommendations were also adopted, including the creation of " Jewish Elder Councils ", the census of the Jewish population, as well as its marking and embrace of forced labor [7] .

The necessity to isolate Jews from the rest of the occupied Polish population was emphasized by the memorandum on the treatment of populations in former Polish areas from the racial and political point of view , developed in November 1939 by the NSDAP's Race Policy Office . Its authors wrote, among other things, that "the task of the German administration will be to divide and win Poles and Jews against each other" [8] . The recommendation concerning the feeding of antagonisms between Poles and Jews and other national minorities was also included in the memorandum on the legal position of German policy towards Poles from the national -opolitical point of view , prepared in January 1940 for the Academy of German Law [a] [9] .

From the first days of occupation, Germans treated the Jewish population in the spirit of racist Nuremberg Laws [10] . From September 1939, occupation authorities at various levels issued orders to order Jews to wear special armbands or reconnaissance marks, as well as to impose the marking of apartments and enterprises belonging to them [11] . In the territory of the General Government, this policy sanctioned the regulation of general governor Hans Frank of November 23, 1939, which imposed the obligation to wear armbands with the Star of David to all Jews over ten years of age [12] . Jews were also marked in the lands incorporated into the Reich, but this was usually based on secret instructions, because the relevant act was not introduced in Germany until the autumn of 1941 [12] . Moreover, in the first months of the occupation, far-reaching restrictions on the freedom of movement of Jews were introduced in almost all cities of the General Governorship and the Land of the Warta . For this purpose, tools such as curfew , a ban on leaving the place of residence, and a ban on getting around using various means of transport were used [13] . By order of Hans Frank of January 26, 1940, Jews were forbidden to travel by train [13] [14] . Over time, this ban was extended to other means of transport [14] . For breaking the above regulations, severe penal sanctions were imposed, up to and including the death penalty [13] .

The Germans also undertook actions aimed at bringing about the pauperization of Jews and their exclusion from the economic life of the occupied country [15] . The industrial, commercial and service enterprises belonging to Jews were confiscated on a mass scale. Also, far-reaching restrictions have been introduced in the areas of craft production, small trade, asset disposing or monetary turnover [16] [17] . The legally sanctioned "aryisation" of Jewish property was accompanied by individual ("wild") looting [18] . Jews were also charged with contributions and special taxes [19] . Representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia were deprived of the right to perform free professions and were freed from work in public institutions [20] [21] . By order of Hans Frank of October 26, 1939, the Jewish population in the General Government was subject to compulsory labor [22] . Two years later, the obligation to work for Jews was introduced in the lands annexed to the Reich, but only by sanctioning the state of affairs which had existed there since the first months of the occupation [23] .

The next stage of the anti-Semitic policy of the occupant was the ghettoisation of the Jewish population, officially justified by economic, sanitary or political reasons [24] . As an excuse to isolate Jews in closed residential districts, he served, among others, " Easter pogrom " from March 1940, decorated with German inspiration by Polish extreme nationalists [25] . The first Jewish ghetto was established in October 1939 in Piotrków Trybunalski [26] . Over the next few months, a dozen or so ghettos were created in the General Government and the Wartheland, including the ghetto in Łódź (February 1940) [27] . Beginning in September 1940, the ghettoization process became more organized [28] . In October of the same year, the creation of the " Jewish quarter in Warsaw " was ordered [29] . In March 1941 ghettos in Krakow and Lublin were established [30] . Relatively at the latest, since only in December 1941, the process of ghettoisation in the Radom district of the General Government was completed [31] . After the outbreak of the German-Soviet war , the ghettos in the Polish territories annexed by the USSR were also organized [32] . The creation of closed Jewish clusters was accompanied by a progressive reduction in the number of smaller ghettos [33] . Concentration and isolation of the Jewish population was also to be served by the unrealized project of creating a great "reserve" for Jews in the Lublin region [34] .

The persecution of the Jewish population was accompanied by a large-scale anti-Semitic propaganda campaign directed at the "Aryan" people - primarily to Poles [35] [36] . With the help of a "reptile" press , a cinema or a poster, the occupiers sought to deepen anti-Semitic attitudes and stereotypes, prevalent even before the war in some circles of Polish society [35] [37] . German propaganda tried to include to blame Jews for the outbreak of war and occupational shortages, and dehumanize them in the eyes of Polish society, for example through accusations of spreading infectious diseases (eg posters "Jews - lice - typhus)" [2] [35] [38] [ 39] . After the commencement of the war with the USSR and the discovery of the Katyn graves, the slogan " Żydokomuny " was also intensely wounded [40] . In many cases, anti-Semitic propaganda found fertile ground and had an impact on the attitudes of Poles towards Jews [41] [42] [43] , also after the beginning of the "final solution" [35] .

After the invasion of the USSR began (June 22, 1941), the anti-Jewish policy of the occupant underwent rapid radicalization. To the east of the Ribbentrop-Molotov line , the German Einsatzgruppen began operations, which until the end of 1941 were murdered from 500,000. [44] to a million [45] Polish and Soviet Jews. In December 1941, the extermination of Jews from the Wartheland was commenced in the extermination camp in Chełmno on the Ner River [46] . By the summer of 1942, all the ghettoes there had ceased to exist, except in Łódź [47] . In turn, on the night of 16 to 17 March 1942, the deportation of the ghetto inhabitants in Lublin to the extermination camp in Bełżec began [48] . The liquidation of the Lublin ghetto initiated the mass and systematic extermination of Polish Jews living in the area of ​​the General Governorship and the Białystok District , which the Germans later baptized with the code name of " Aktion Reinhardt " [49] . In addition, from the middle of 1942, the extermination camps created by the Germans in the occupied Polish territories became a place of execution for Jews deported from other European countries [50] [51] . By November 1943, "Aktion Reinhardt" absorbed nearly 2 million victims [49] . Although the extermination camps organized for the purposes of this operation were liquidated in the second half of the year, the mass extermination of Polish and European Jews was continued - above all in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp [52] [53] . In August 1944, the last ghetto in the occupied Polish territories - the Łódź ghetto - ended. [54] As a consequence of the German policy of extermination in the occupied Polish territories, a majority of approximately 5.5 million Holocaust victims, including at least 2.8 million Polish Jews, were murdered [55] .

In 1941, the rapid spread of infectious diseases in overcrowded ghettos and the general radicalization of German anti-Jewish policy tightened the insular disciplines imposed on Polish Jews [56] [57] . While the Second Regulation on limitation of stay in the General Government of April 29, 1941 provided for imprisonment and fines for failure to comply with the "restrictions on stay" regulations, the Jews were shot on the spot from the middle of the same year, usually justifying it alleged "attempt to escape" [58] . The third ordinance on limiting the stay in the General Government of October 15, 1941, provided for the death penalty for all Jews who "leave the designated district without authorization," while its decision was to be entrusted to German special courts [59] [60] . Finally, in November 1941, the German police authorities issued a so-called order to shoot (German: Schießbefehl ), which authorized police officers to execute without trial all Jews staying without permission outside the ghetto (including women and children) [61] . After the start of "Aktion Reinhardt", the German military police supported by collaborative police formations systematically tracked, captured and murdered refugees from ghettos, transports and camps. This stage of the Holocaust, called by the Germans Judenjagd (Polish: "hunting for Jews") lasted until the last days of occupation [62] .

Historians estimate that in occupied Poland, from 100,000 [63] to 300,000 [64] Jews, they attempted to hide "on the Aryan side." The Germans took a series of measures to discourage Poles from giving them any help. To achieve this goal, the occupation authorities skilfully sowed with prizes and punishments [65] [66] . On the one hand, the "Aryan" people were trying to encourage Jews to issue and hunt in return for money or in kind [36] [65] [66] [67] . In Warsaw, the denouncers were rewarded with 500 zlotys [68] , and officers of the " navy blue police " announced that for catching a Jew hiding "on the Aryan side" they would receive 1/3 of their cash [69] . In the rural areas of the Warsaw District, an award was given in the form of 1 meter of grain [70] . The reward for the issue of a Jew could also be a few kilograms of sugar , a liter of spirit , a small allocation of wood or food, clothes belonging to the victim [71] . It is known that in the vicinity of Ostrołęka, the remuneration for the denunciators was 3 kilograms of sugar [72] , in Western Małopolska - 500 zlotys and 1 kilogram of sugar [66] , in the Kraśnik poviat - from 2 to 5 kilograms of sugar [73] , in the Konecki poviat - holding victim and 0.5 kilogram of sugar [74] , in the vicinity of Sandomierz - liter of spirit and 0.5 kilogram of sugar [74] , in Volhynia - three liters of vodka [66] . These treatments were not without results. Polish society included individuals who were actively motivated by profit or anti-Semitism, and then spent, robbing or blackmailing Jews who were hiding [75] [76] [77] . In Warsaw, the number of " blackmailers ", blackmailers and denunciators, often associated in well-organized gangs [78] , was calculated to be 3-4 thousand [79] . Bands operated in rural areas - usually composed of criminals, members of the social margin, as well as declared anti-Semites [74] - who tracked refugees, and then handed them over to the Germans or robbed on their own, often committing murders and rapes [80] ] [81] [82] .

To participate in the raids and exploration activities, Germans were engaged by officers of the Polish "navy police" [83] [84] [85] . Some policemen showed considerable zeal in this field, including participating directly in murdering Jewish refugees [83] [84] . Polish gamekeepers, members of volunteer fire brigades and members of rural guards were also involved in the raids [73] [84] [86] . In addition, Polish village administrators, commune heads and officials were obliged to enforce German orders on capturing Jews and preventing their assistance [87] .

At the same time, the occupation authorities introduced draconian penalties for concealing Jews or providing them with any help [65] [66] [88] . In the opinion of Sebastian Piątkowski and Jacek A. Młynarczyk, "the milestone on the road to the complete isolation of the Jewish community from the rest of the conquered population" was the signing by Hans Frank of the already mentioned Third Regulation on restriction of stay in the General Government (October 15, 1941). It was the first legal act envisaging the death penalty for Poles who "consciously give shelter" to Jews staying without a permit outside the ghetto [59] . This document also announced that "the instigators and helpers are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator, the act attempted will be punished as a deed committed," stating, however, that in lighter cases a prison sentence may be imposed [60] . The purpose of the regulation was unambiguous - to discourage Jews from seeking help outside the ghetto and to deter the Polish population from providing help [89] .

Soon after, orders of similar content were signed in all districts of the General Governorship, signed by local governors or SS and Police Commander [90] . In many cases, similar administrative orders and announcements were also published by the lower administrative authorities [91] . The announcement of the Governor of the Warsaw District, Dr. Ludwig Fischer , issued on November 10, 1941, was even more restrictive than the Frank's regulation, because it predicted that every Pole would be punished by death, who "hides Jews in a deliberate way or helps in other ways (e.g. by providing accommodation, maintenance, by taking on vehicles of all kinds) " [90] [92] .

After the start of "Aktion Reinhardt", the escape of Jews from liquidated ghettos or from transports to extermination camps began. This fact prompted the German authorities to issue another series of orders that reminded the Polish population of the death penalty threatening Jewish assistance to refugees [b] [89] [93] . In this context, mention may be made announcement of the SS and Police Commander to the Warsaw District of SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg of September 5, 1942 [94] , announcement of the starost of the Przemyśl poviat, dr. Heinisch from July 27, 1942 [95] , police order of the starost of the Sanocki poviat, dr. Classa of September 14, 1942 [96] , announcement of the starosta in Częstochowa, dr. E. Frankego from September 24, 1942 [97] , the order of the staroste of the Kraśnik District from October 23, 1942 [98] , or the proclamation of the starost of the Dębicki poviat of Schlüter from November 19, 1942 [99] . In turn, on September 21, 1942 SS and Police Commander in the Radom district of SS-Standartenführer Herbert Böttcher issued a circular addressed to the local administrative and police authorities, which included the following entries: [93] [100]

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